Month: Sep 2015

Sir Terry Wogan is living the good life, and he knows it. He’s worked his way up the tv and radio schedules to the lofty status of national treasure and jolly decent chap. He’s the sort of presenter it’s absolutely categorically impossible to dislike, with his warm tones, his charming manner and his often repeated jokes. He’s perfect for happy little interviews with the general public and asking tradesmen and restauranteurs “What is it that you do?”. Over the years he’s perfected his jovial, warm, interested style. He’s happy for you to know he’s on easy street and in this series he doesn’t even have to worry about the driving. Mason McQueen (sadly not called June) is a London cabbie and adventurer, thanks to A Cabbie Abroad which was shown on BBC2 last year. He’s not afraid to leave the confines of the M25 and, like Terry, seems genuinely interested in meeting people and learning about their trade.

Last night there was a sea change in American late-night comedy. Young South African comic Trevor Noah took over at The Daily Show from the esteemed Jon Stewart. There’s been a lot of chatter about whether he was the right appointment (he’s not a woman, he’s black, he’s not American, he has a funny accent, he’s made some crappy jokes on Twitter) since it was announced 6 months ago, but last night was the one night that mattered.

A few words on The Gamechangers (BBC2) – a drama that I was pretty excited about. It was awful.

I’d heard that Rockstar Games, the makers of Grand Theft Auto and the subject of the show had nothing to do with the script and hadn’t signed off on it. They’d also taken to Twitter to slag it off calling it a rubbish new Rentaghost and asking “What exactly is this random, made up bollocks?” Oooh, I thought, maybe this drama hits a nerve, maybe it’s too close to home and they just can’t take the criticism.

In my very earliest post on this blog, just two months ago, I promised you that I wasn’t interested in the ways of celebrity. Despite the subject of today’s post, I swear this is still true. Yes, this is a reality show about a 90s boy band star – Abz Love of 5ive fame – and his girlfriend Vicky Fallon but there’s more to this little series than meets the eye.

I’m coming late to the party on the hottest name in American comedy. Amy Schumer is a household name in the States and with Comedy Central UK advertising her stuff every two minutes she’ll soon be well-known here.

Hunted was trailed hard by Channel 4. Almost as hard as the fugitives were trailed by the all-powerful surveillance team in the control centre and their operatives on the ground. I’d been really looking forward to the show but found the first episode a bit disappointing. There wasn’t enough preamble about the format or why or how they’re doing it. I understand they’re trying to make the viewer feel something of the chaos the participants are thrown in to, but the speed and the panic of being forced to flee their homes with only 60 minutes notice (Go!Go!Go!) was exciting enough. A proper introduction would have been fine. Thank goodness the production team decided each set of participants needed a proper trained cameraman with them. If this was all filmed on shaky GoPros like a British Blair Witch Project I’d have turned off inside the first 10 minutes.

A quick post to add my voice to the many thousands of other fans delighted that This is England makes its return on Sunday 13 September (9pm on Channel 4). Reviewers have said that Shane Meadows’ semi-autobiographical film and follow-up tv shows have been so successful because this is a gang we all want to be part of. I remember being nervous in the council estates in my home town. Even as a child I realised I wasn’t a part of it. It all seemed alien to this emotionally repressed middle-class kid – the close-knit families who did enormous favours for each other with no complaints, calling your Mum’s friends Aunty, kids playing out in the street until all hours, shouting, swearing, crying, sometimes private tensions bubbling over into violence made public. You’d never have gotten anything like that on my street. When we were really cross we might tut.